We remain the same. So reassuring!

Promoters of Varun Industries, who manufacture stainless steel home products, have scarpered. Why so? Because they have no intention of repaying loans of Rs 11 billion. Even with high inflation and a weak rupee you can seriously enjoy yourself with that kind of money. Typically, none of the public sector banks complained. Fellows must have been generous with their booty. A non-banking finance company, SE Investments filed a criminal complaint when they were not paid on their loan of Rs 400 million. Apparently, they lent money against shares valued at Rs 250 per share, when the market value was one-tenth of that, and the promoters had fudged the books. And why not? Even after 6 years there is no verdict on Ramalinga Raju who confessed to forging accounts. Indeed he is enjoying grand wedding parties, rubbing shoulders with politicians and film stars. Half of India's 500 top companies are in debt trouble and Rs 7 trillion will be needed to clear up the mess, of which 63 companies will need Rs 2.4 trillion. How did things get so bad? Because in an effort to hang on to power any which way the Congress allowed coalition partners to get away with any crime and even withdrew cases against politicians to get their support in parliament. The result has been a complete contempt for the rule of law, a feeling of ' if they can get away with it why can't we '. Bank managers lent billions of rupees to dubious fellows in return for bribes and even so-called businessmen borrowed trillions of rupees from public sector banks thinking that they will not have to repay their debt. Cheating has become so ingrained that it is practised unthinkingly on foreigners as well, who naturally react with anger. In November 2013 a document from the Food and Drug Administration in the US, obtained by Bloomberg, stated that they found evidence of forged chemical tests on drugs at a plant of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. Technicians deleted results that showed a batch of drugs had impurities and substituted results from another batch which tested perfect. " Our review found that analysts regularly delete undesirable chromatographic results, and products are retested without initiating an investigation as required," the inspectors wrote. Sun's plant was banned along with plants of 11 other companies. The Americans are safe but what about us? Adulteration of drugs is a serious criminal offence so surely these fellows, and their managers, should be in prison. Nope. No drugs are ever withdrawn in India and no company punished. When the innocent die there is great drama which dies down after a while and things continue as before. We can be sure that India remains the same. How reassuring is that?